Current projects are the following:

RFID Impact in Supply Chain
Coordinated by: Marc Sachon
With the collaboration of: WHU  and CEL 

The broad introduction of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology in the retail sector is expected to lead to economies of scale that would reduce prices of the RFID tags, making the new technology more accessible. RFID is expected to drastically change the way to do business in supply chains. 

In this study, we aim to investigate how RFID will affect business processes, in particular the power shifts within the supply chain. 

Businesses in various sectors will be faced with investment decisions in RFID technology within the near future (Metro Group, Tesco and WalMart take lead). Nevertheless, there is a series of unresolved strategic questions.  This study undertakes the present ideas of manufacturers and retailers regarding some of these questions among one sector.  Based on the conclusions, we will try to determine (a) how the sectors will resolve the strategic questions that they are presented with (b) how to lessen the seriousness of related hindrances, and at the same time (c) improve the results of the business and the value for the consumer.

The Effectiveness of Logistics Alliances.
Performance Measurement and Contractual Success Factors in European Lostics Partnerships.
Coordinated by: Alejandro Lago and Joan Jané

The study analyzes the contractual relations of strategic alliances in the sphere of logistics, as well as the conditioning factors that determine their competitive edge.

It is an european reasearch project developed with the collaboration of more than 100 companies including logistics services providers and multinational clients as well.

Among the main conclusions of the study, we can emphasize the following:

• The success of a logistics alliance is measured not only by the fulfillment of the strategic goals of each partner but also by the relationship process between the parties involved.
• The perception of the alliance performance of each partner is often different. Partners may have different strategic goals, and they rate the success of the partnership quite differently.
• Furthermore, each party has a poor perception of the degree of satisfaction of its counterpart.
• Throughout the alliance contract it is imperative to pay attention to tasks that involve communication, joint planning and alignment efforts, in order to reduce information asymmetry.
  

Management systems in logistics services providers
Coordinated by: Alberto Fernández

The objective of this project is to analyze the strategic management systems in logistics service providers and transport companies, understanding such systems as the balanced scorecard, budget and the planning, information, tracking, assesment and compensation systems.

The project includes, among others, the following aspects:

• Degree of implementation of advanced management systems.
• Elements used in the processes of organizational communication and results tracking.
• Usual and desirable indicators in the type of companies object of the study.
• Strategy deployment process in the organization through the management systems.
• Problems in the design and implementation of management systems.
• Peculiarities and differences regarding other sectors.
• Differences according to the type of organization object of the study (by size, organizational structure, etc.)
  

Multi-retailer Distribution Platform
Coordinated by: Prof. Marc Sachon

The object of this project is to measure the cost structure and feasibility of the proposals arising from the consolidation of a distribution system managed by a 3PL.

The proposed consolidation strategy consists in reducing the number of current distribution platforms, concentrating, in an organized fashion, the inventory of various customers in single management system, facilitating an integrated supplier billing process as well.

This research pursues to obtain the following results:

• Benchmarking of transport and stock management costs between the current system and the alternative proposals.

• To estimate the optimal number of distribution platforms and their geographic locations.

• To identify the challenges and implementation strategies for the company.

Supplier-Buyer Strategic Alliances Management
Fábio Cerquinho and Prof. Marc Sachon

Supply base reduction is a key element in the supply chain management. Although there are few doubts about the value added of the supply base reduction, there is a lot of discussion on how to do it. PhD dissertation by Fábio Cerquinho is focused on this topic.

Purchasing Challenges in SMEs.
Prof. Marc Sachon

The objective of this research is to analyze the importance of the purchasing function among spanish SMEs and their knowledge level about the best practices in the purchasing process in order to identify challenges and development potentials. The research is based in a previous UK study, which allow us to compare results.

The European Luxury Fashion Industry.
Prof. Marc Sachon and Prof. Philip Moscoso

European project carried out in collaboration with Insead and the Copenhagen Business School, including companies as Hugo Boss.

The objective of this project is to study how European luxury fashion companies can leverage their supply chains to generate competitive advantages vis-à-vis the emerging Asian high-quality fashion cluster.

The disappearance of textile tariffs in 2005 has led to a dramatic change in the European textile industry. Traditional key supplier regions such as Italy and Spain are suffering the accelerated transfer of activities to lower cost countries, mainly in Asia. Asian suppliers are not only offering lower costs, but increasingly are able to offer better quality levels, as well as integrated supply chain solutions which can cover all aspects from product design to store delivery.

Thus the key question of the project becomes: Can European-based supply chain configurations render enough performance and flexibility advantages to compensate for the lower costs and reduced differentiation of Asiatic based supply chain configurations?

Short Sea Shipping Adaptation to Different Goods Distribution Strategies in Spain
Alejandro Lago

Project coordinated by the Transport Innovation Center (CENIT) of the Technical University of Catalonia with the collaboration of IESE-CIIL as well as companies as DHL and Maersk.

The objective of this research is to assess the feasibility of the SSS usage in the different typologies of distribution strategies in the main logistics families of the spanish international trading market, identifying, on one hand, in which cases and terms is possible, and, on the other hand, defining possible variants of the SSS regarding the current mainstream model.

So far, in order to analyze the SSS potential implementation at Spain, costs and times benchmarkings have been made between a road transport based supply chain and an intermodal based supply chain, assuming same origin and destination in both cases. Nevertheless, the reality of goods distribution is more complex. It is common to adopt different typologies in distribution strategies as a function of the load type and volume, existent infrastructures and carriers needs. This project deals with SSS feasibility under a global approach and its implementation in the complete distribution network.